Largest Hailstone Likely Recorded in Alabama

Severe storms on Tuesday, March 19th roared through Alabama in the afternoon and evening, producing several tornadoes across northern portions of the state. In fact, an EF-3 tornado was confirmed in Jacksonville, AL, which ends a rare streak of 306 days with no EF-3+ tornadoes in the United States. The last time a tornado of this magnitude affected a town in the US was back on May 16, 2017.

Hail was a more numerous and significant event that impacted Alabama as well as surrounding states. It caused millions of dollars in damage to cars and homes. It was what happened in Cullman, AL, however, which was the most eye-opening. Hail as large as approximately 5.25 inches in diameter or a circumference of 13.75 inches was recorded by Craig Mann of Cullman, shown in the image below. This hailstone ended up weighing 8.9 ounces! There are no records kept in Alabama in terms of largest hailstones, but the largest entry was of a hailstone of 4.25 inches in diameter. This new hailstone, which is expected to break the record for largest hailstone in Alabama, has been sent to National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) to verify, which can make it an official new record. According to the National Weather Service, “the largest hailstone ever recorded fell on July 23rd, 2010 in Vivian, South Dakota. It measured 8.0 inches in diameter, 18.62 inches in circumference and weighed 1.93 pounds.”

Jackson is Head of Content at WeatherOptics and produces several forecasts and manages all social media platforms. Previously, Jackson forecasted local weather for southwestern Connecticut, founding his website, Jackson's Weather, in the March of 2015. He is currently studying Meteorology and Broadcast Journalism at the University of Miami.